Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-03-23

earn their daily bread. And finally.
when the end came, the sale of tho
sewing-machine itself, together with
their scanty stock of furniture, barely
suniced to pay the poor woman's burial
expenses. 1t is common story enough.
Hundreds of broken hearted. over
worked, half-starved women all over the
land have lived and died after the same
fashion. and will till the millennium
comes. Yet this fact does not comfort
the orphans they leave behind them.
Certainly, il was no comfort to Tad,
who was nearly wild with grief at the
loss of the one being whom he had to
love in the wide world. Only for things
that his mother said TO him before she
fell asleep, / fear Tad would have drift
ed into the ways of too many of our
city boys who, like him. are left home
less and friendlcss amid temptation and
sin. But the boy had good stuff in
him, and, best of all, he held his moth
er's memory and parting words as
something too sacred to be forgotten.
l do not claim that he was one Of those
immaculate street boys common enough
in fiction, but. alasl so rare in fact. BY
no means. Truth compcls me To state
that Tad Thorne at the age of fourteen
was rather rude in speech, quick-tem-
pered and the owner of decidedly
obstinate disposition, which. however,
was readily affected by kindly words.
Yet, do you wonder at his faults? The
only wonder to myself is that Tad did
not become a really bad boy; for since
his mothers death he had, as one may
say. almost lived in the streets. For
Tad had no home. A friendly news
vender gave him lodgings under his
periodical counter in the city post
Office. in return for which Tad sold pa
pers or ran errands. And in odd mo-
lncnts he had managed to keep soul
and body together by blacking boots.
I peddhug matches. carrying valises,
holding horses. and n score Of other de-
vices known 10 the average street boy.
] have mentioned Tad's faults; now
let me tell you some of his better quail
ties. lie was honest. cleau-mouthed.a and,
generally speaking. truthful. rs well as
kind-hcarted and generous to an ex-
travagant degree. He had attended the
night schools - attracted ut first by
their warmth and comfort-where he
learned to read creditably. spell fairly,
write legibly and cipher understand
ingly. But. with his superiority in many
respects over the associates among
whom his lot of late had been thrown,
Tad, in thinking matters over, had to
confess that, In a business point of
view, he had been any thing but sue
cess. The truth is, Tad was not sharp
or unscrupulous enough to compete
with his fellows; but this fact be did
not recognize.
- guess I'm not one OF the lucky
Ones he mumred, rather ruefully,
as he mentally reviewed his many
/ business failures, while the swift train,
which was bearing him away from the
/ scene of them all, to fresh fields and
pastures new, went laundering on
through the darkness toward Boston.
/ Boston! As Tad's thoughts reverted
/ from thc past, the name repeated itself
over in his mind. "Seems as though
heard mother say once that l had an
Aunt Rhoda who lived in Boston, or
Bangor, or-anyway, it was Il place
that began with L, somewhere down
East, " unused Tad. Not that he
hoped, expected or even desired TO meet
this, the only relative he knew of in
the world. 1t was enough to remember
that she had never held communication
with Mrs. Thorne since her marriage TO
some one whom her older sister Rhoda
did not like. And slight offered to
his mother was in Tad's eyes an I'M
pardonable oifensc.
But so much thinking. together with
the warmth of the steam-heating pipes
at his back and the even, on-rushing
movement of the train, began TO make
Tad drowsy. Pecping ont of his hiding
place, he could see that many of the
passengers were disposing themselves
for uneasy slumbcr. and, judging by
certain sounds from the chair in front of
him, Tad's lady was already in dream
land. So, leaning his head back against
the fur-lined cloak which had already
ccrved him such 4 good turn, and,
being used to sleeping in all sorts of
postures and places, Tad fell fast asleep
in no time. Rousing himself at inter
walls long enough to silently change his
cramped position, Tad passed the long
night in comparative comfort, until
with the dawn of morning all began to
shake OF their drOwsiness, and to
struggle into more comfortable posi-
tons, rs they grmbied about not hav-
ing slept wink during the night.
Tad's lady was not Exactly cross, but
Tad noticed that she called her hus-
band Mr.. Mason, instead of John,
dear" as on the evening before, when
she asked him how he had rested. And
he also noticed that Mr.. Mason's voice
was rather sharp as he replied that the
confounded chair had given him three
distinct kinks in his backbone, and
while economy was well enough in its
place, by Georgel another time he'd
have his own way, and take n section
in a sleeper" as sure rs his name
was John Mason!
$50, my ladyis Mrs. John Mason,''
Tad thought to himself. trying in his
imagination to picture her face from
the sound of her voice. and failing en-
tirely. But without well knowing why,
he resolved not to forget the name of
the lady who--as he mentally ex.
pressed it-"belonged TO the fur-lned
cloak. " Other and less pleasant thoughts
began to obtrude themselves, as the
morning wore on. Now that he was
so near his destination, Tad's growing
anxiety rs to his future movements
cOntrasted rather strongly with hi:
philosophy of the previous evening.
"rn get something to eat. first OF